In November 2013, we started on our biggest adventure so far! We quit our jobs and flew with a one-way ticket to Bangkok – with the intention to spend 3 – 4 months there which eventually became 6. The idea of this trip was to get to know this country a bit better than just from the touristic point of view. We actually wanted to live there for a while, get to know the traditions and the lifestyle of the locals, and train Muay Thai – the Thai version of kickboxing and the national sport of the country.

In this section of our blog, we would like to share our experiences and impressions with you and tell you our stories of 6 months in the land of the smiles.

With this article I would like to give a short overview of our route and introduce you to what is expecting you here. I hope you enjoy the very small selection of pictures which should give you a first impression of our tour.

Bangkok

Everything started in Bangkok. It was the first and also the last destination of our trip. In between we passed by the city a couple of times on our way from North to South to Laos and back. We collected quite some stories in the city of extremes, the most populous city in Thailand, in Krung Thep Maha Nakhon or simply Krung Thep as Thais call it.

Sunrise over Bangkok

Chiang Mai

After Bangkok, our first stop was Chiang Mai, also called the rose of the North. We spent 2 months there and started to love this city, also because it was so different from what we had seen of Thailand before. During the rest of our trip we always longingly thought back to our time in Chiang Mai, missing the amazing and cheap food, the variety of good and inexpensive accommodations, and the possibilities for outdoor activities in the beautiful nature…

Busy street life in Chiang Mai

Hua Hin

This beach resort town, 2 hours South of Bangkok, is probably not so well known by many tourists. I have to admit I had never heard of it before we were planning our next stop after Chiang Mai. The royal family regularly spends some time in their summer residence in Hua Hin and it also became a famous location for weekend trips of the high society of Bangkok. We decided to check it out for a couple of weeks before heading back to Bangkok and catching our flight to Laos for a visa run.

Hua Hin Beach

Ao Nang

After the extreme heat during our ‘short’ visa run to Laos where we ended up for 2 weeks, we were longing for the beautiful beaches in the South and found our way to Ao Nang, Krabi. For 2 months we stayed in this area and discovered the beaches, the forests, the lime stone rocks, the cities, and the country sides with a short visit on an organic farm. There will be lots to tell about our time in Ao Nang!

Lime stone rocks around Ao Nang

Koh Samui

The last 2 weeks of our trip we wanted to spend on an island. Considering the amount of beautiful options in Thailand we based our decision on the recommendation of a good Muay Thai training camp and ended up on Koh Samui. Probably one of the most famous and also the third largest island of Thailand I had heard a lot about it before but it still turned out to be much different from how I had imagined it.

Chaweng Beach, Koh Samui

Muay Thai

As mentioned before, one of the reasons for us to come to Thailand was to train (for my boyfriend) or to get an idea of (for me) the art of Thai kickboxing known as Muay Thai. We mainly based the decisions where to stay and where to go next on the availability of recommended Muay Thai camps in this area. And there are lots of them! No matter where we stayed, we always discovered many more training places than we originally read about. And we didn’t only find them but also tried them out! One of us actively, the other one more passively by watching and taking pictures and videos… but anyway there will be a lot to tell about our Muay Thai experiences.

Superpro Samui – Muay Thai training camp

The food

Since we both love good food but are lazy with cooking we liked the idea of spending some time in a country with freshly cooked meals for little money around each corner, 24 hours a day! We’ve been eating out 3 – 4 times per day (sometimes also 5 since training Muay Thai makes you really hungry!) and tried lots of different food places and meals, visited local markets, took cooking classes, and sometimes even cooked our own meals at home. We learned quite a lot about the Thai food culture and are happy to share our experiences with you!

Dishes prepared in a Thai cooking class

The language

I am very interested in different languages and I was very enthusiastic about learning Thai. I thought 6 months in one country should be enough to learn at least a bit more than the basics in a new language. To make it short: I failed and I will tell you soon why…

Practising the Thai letters

I hope you are looking forward now to reading about our adventures in Thailand! Within the next weeks and months we will regularly provide new articles to the mentioned topics! Enjoy reading!!

Are there any special things you would be interested in of the above mentioned places? Leave a comment below and we will try to provide information if possible!

My travel pics on Instagram

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About Odysseys of a Nomad

Hi, I’m Carina – German by law, Finnish by choice, Nomadic by heart. On Odysseys of a Nomad I write about my expat life in Finland combined with past and future travel tales. Enjoy reading and happy travelling!